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Tag: strengths

I do value a job well done, really, I do. But there are times when you do what you need to do to get by–and it simply isn’t your best work. Really, if I did my best work for every meal for every project, for every anything, I would be exhausted. Honestly, I am tired now and I know I am not giving my best effort.

What about when my best effort isn’t good enough? Or even a fair effort isn’t acceptable to the eyes that judge it. Am I a failure then?

Our son is in his 4th Semester of Spanish at the college level. It has been grueling to say the least. He has been frustrated, nauseated, and has put a lot of effort into it. The grades are low at the end of the semester. He literally just squeaks by. He cannot wait to get past this requirement (for his history major). He has had a tutor since Spanish II and just has a difficult time getting above a D on tests. But it looks like he has turned a corner because he earned a 100% and a 102% on his last two quizzes. We are all very excited. Quite frankly, a C would have been great so we are super excited and yet holding our breath…has he finally broken through the barrier? We pray so.

We are thankful for his persistence because if there was something he has wanted to quit 100 times, this Spanish thing would be it. We are thankful for the requirement for 4 years of a foreign language because it made him fight for his major–and he consider changing it many times. We are thankful he was open to every possible mode of assistance available to him. He works hard for his grade–and it is still low most of the time. I never took a foreign language in college so I can’t say I wouldn’t be having the same problem. I am learning Hungarian on the side and it isn’t very easy for me, but I am doing it because I want to so it really isn’t the same.

Is there an area of your life where you can accept only being “good enough”? House cleaning? Physical appearance? Job performance? 401K earnings? Grades? Parenting?

Recognize and give thanks for your limitations–it gives God a great opportunity to fill in the gaps. If we are all about achieving and everything we touch seems to turn to gold then we are only setting ourselves up for the idea that we are the ones accomplishing everything. As we continue to achieve, it is easy to forget who allowed us the intelligence, connections, or the provisions for our success.

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 NIV

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for working through me whether through my strengths or my weaknesses. Help me to recognize it is all Your work through me. Thank you for loving me when I fail. In Jesus’ Name…